talking with Devendra Nath Tagore about Kesav as an avatar, when he remarked, “I wonder why Kesav is ambitious of the rank of an avatar. In this country the Fish and the Tortoise too are worshipped as avatars.! ... When Kesav Babu alighted at Allahabad on his return from Simla, there was quite a scene on the platform as his disciples rushed to clasp his feet and those of each other, while the European stationmaster looked on in amazement.” (P. 136) Evidently the latter gentleman thought, ‘Scratch a Brahmo and you will find a Hindu.’
Then came the Kuch Bihar marriage, when principle was sacrificed to expediency, * * * * Kesav claimed that he had acted under inspiration. But one must live in the age of miracles to believe that this inspiration had come from on high. The logical consequence of avatarism folled the death of Kesav: the alter from which he used to preach was pronounced sacred and Pratap was prevented with unspiritual weapons from occupying it, lest it should be defiled! The argument was presumably the same as the Shia contention that Ali,
